Deadbeat Illinois: Timely payments key to center's survival

Sunday

Oct 20, 2013 at 12:00 PM

By Jessica LemaGateHouse Media Illinois

LINCOLN — Tazwood Mental Health Center has had a rough go of it the last few years, thanks to the state of Illinois.

With locations in Lincoln, Pekin and East Peoria, Tazwood serves about 3,000 clients each year, many of whom suffer from substance-abuse problems and severe mental illness. A large percentage of its clients are Medicare or Medicaid recipients. As a result, the center relies on reimbursements from the state to keep its doors open.

Earlier this year, like many other service providers in Illinois, Tazwood Mental Health Center started to receive much more consistent payments from the state for the first time in years. As of Sept. 26, the state owed Tazwood $184,501, the smallest amount in quite some time.

"I'm not going to complain at this point," said Ann Campen, Tazwood chief financial officer. "It's helped immensely, now that we have the money to pay our bills."

Campen said the timeliness of the recent state payments has been an enormous relief for her and her colleagues.

"In 2010, we were literally sitting up here with the lights out, trying to keep costs down," Campen said. "We were at the point where we were two days away from not being able to pay our employees. By the time we'd get a payment from the state, the debt would already be six months old.

"It gets to the point where you can't sleep at night because you're worried about being able to pay your employees. That was the situation we were in."

As vendor prices annually increased, state reimbursement rates remained the same, Campen said, "and when we couldn't even count on that money coming in, it was incredibly difficult for us to function."

Due to the financial uncertainty, Campen and her board were forced to make some difficult decisions.

The center hasn't been able to provide for pensions since July 2010, it no longer offers a 401(k) match program, and the employees haven't seen a raise in several years.

"That's how we've been surviving at the rates we have," Campen said, "rates that haven't gone up since about 2007."

The belt-tightening wasn't enough to keep all of Tazwood's programs intact.

In 2011, one of three residential services programs closed due to a lack of funding from the state. Five developmentally disabled and mentally ill clients who lived at the facility lost their homes, and several employees lost jobs. That summer, the state owed Tazwood in excess of $800,000.

"At that time, I was on the board and we were very concerned," Tazwood CEO Dave Mingus said. "We made a plan to contact our local legislators, but it was a scary time because we had the concern, not only of providing for our clients, but also the fact that our employees relied on that money to maintain their lives and to pay their bills."

Mingus said the agency has been breathing much easier since the state began making more consistent payments, but it's going to be awhile before things are back to normal.

"We still get a fair amount of money in grants, and that money has still been coming in," he said. "But there's always the concern that the money could dry up. As it is now, we're just able to keep our heads above water."

The two remaining residential programs at Tazwood offer eight-hour and 24-hour services to mentally ill clients, as well as transitional programs that help integrate people back into the community after a stay in a hospital or nursing home.

Martin said Tazwood is one of about three programs in central Illinois that offer such services.

The programs are based out of two converted apartment buildings tucked away in a part of Pekin that is mostly occupied by commercial offices. The facilities are badly in need of renovations and new furnishings, but the funds are not available. Martin said it can be difficult to help clients feel secure and comfortable in such an environment.

Adding to the uncertainty, everyone at Tazwood is bracing for the changes that will come with implementation of the Affordable Care Act. So they're keeping their fingers crossed that the state will continue to pay its bills.

"If it happened again, if they just stopped paying again," Campen said, "it would probably be catastrophic for us."

About this series Reporters from GateHouse Illinois newsrooms examine the real-world effects of the state's failure to pay its bills.